Set up your perfect garden

Greening the urban home, and the city, is something anybody can do

A sprawling concrete jungle like Mumbai seems like an unlikely place to take up farming, or perhaps, the best place for it. Just ask Adrienne Thadani who— through her initiative, Fresh and Local—has been one of the pioneers of urban farming in India’s bustling metropolis. Thadani founded Fresh and Local in 2011 to grow her own vegetables and help others do the same. Early on in her green-quest, she chanced upon an empty 2,000-square-foot terrace overlooking the JJ Flyover. Spurred on by the owner of the apartment, Thadani, along with her colleagues Ganesh Lokare and Aditi Punj, started a community garden called the Flyover Farm. The farm grows a variety of fruits, vegetables, spices and herbs. Every Wednesday, Fresh and Local conducts workshops for school students and adults to teach them how spaces can be utilized in a green way. Fresh and Local is also practising the ‘farm-to-table’ philosophy by helping Mumbai-based restaurant The Table grow their own vegetables in Alibag. Through its various initiatives, the company has demonstrated that greening the city is something anyone can do.Contact: 09619824557; adrienne@ freshandlocal.org

SRINIVAS JAKAMPUDI LOCATION Hyderabad

Srinivas Jakampudi has been working in his family’s horticulture business for the last 10 years, and has taken on a number of landscaping and nursery development projects. According to architect Kiron Cheerla, Jakampudi’s landscapes look as if they have naturally evolved. He knows how to combine architects’ briefs with his own knowledge to execute projects succesfully.Contact: 09848966616; srinuvas6616@gmail.com

ND CREATIONS LOCATION Bengaluru

If it’s garden or landscape beautification services you want, ND Creations specializes in just that. The company makes planters and sculptures, besides designing murals, water fountains, and waterfalls, and creating decorative wall cladding for gardens and lawns. Bengaluru-based architecture firm, KGD, often employs ND Creations to execute their landscaping projects.Contact: 09845842795; ndcreations@gmail.com

PHOTO: ABIN CHAUDHURI

FRESH AND LOCAL

SUPERMODE GARDENING LOCATION: Kolkata Subrata Ghosh started Supermode Gardening in 1992. His company undertakes landscape planning, execution, and maintenance services for a number of architects, developers, and individuals. Supermode’s work can be seen in universities, colleges, malls, corporate offices, hotels, and other commercial and private spaces.Contact: 09831019796; supermode_gardening @yahoo.com

SEED LOCATION Palani Hills, Tamil Nadu

We know what organic farming is, but few of us know what permadesign is (designing farms to mimic nature as closely as possible). Formally educated in permaculture, Simrit Malhi started SEED (Sustainable Ecological Exterior Design) in 2011 to practise permadesign. SEED works to create sustainable landscapes that are easy to maintain, quick to yield, and beautiful to look at.Contact: 09320606012; maaliwalli@gmail.com

IKHETI LOCATION Mumbai

‘Greenvamping’ and not revamping is the buzzword these days. And ‘Eco-preneur’ Priyanka Amar Shah is among the many people practising urban farming. She started iKheti in 2012 to promote innovation in agriculture. Architect Meghana Gilani of deCoDe Architecture considers iKheti to be a one-stop shop for all sustainable urban farming needs, be it for one’s kitchen, terrace, balcony, or yard.Contact: 09819673357; info.ikheti@gmail.com

PHOTO COURTESY: GREENOMETRIC SOLUTIONS

GREENOMETRIC SOLUTIONS LOCATION Mumbai

When the thumb is green but the space scarce, there is only one way to go and that is up. Green walls or vertical gardens have been around for a while, but their popularity has spiked in this decade. Mukul and Aparna Bandiwadekar are botanists who have studied vertical gardens, both theoretically and practically. They started Greenometric Solutions in 2003, which offers complete vertical garden ecosystems, wherein the vertical garden comes with a fish pond at the bottom. The highly nutritious water used by the fish in the pond gets recycled for the plants and from the plants, it gets filtered and goes back to the aquarium, thus creating an entire ecosystem. For indoor use, the Bandiwadekars offer pot-system vertical gardens and for outdoor use, the vertical gardens have felt (a matted, non-woven fabric) as the base. Greenometric modifies its systems to suit the plants. The selection of plants is always site-specific, governed as it is by sunlight availability and wind pressure. Besides serving a purely ornamental function, a vertical garden can also be used to grow vegetables. People can even get an irrigation system from Greenometric that not only waters their plants at regular intervals automatically, but which can also be programmed to alter water flow depending upon the season. All this is good news for aspiring urban farmers; for if there is someone who can help you cultivate your own garden in your tiny city apartment, there is no excuse to not turn green.Contact: 09920013520; greenometric.solutions @gmail.com

JYOTSNA DAYAL LOCATION New Delhi

When Jyotsna Dayal talks about trees, it’s evident that she feels a deep connection to them. The landscape planner often hugs her plants and trees because she feels they can read people and a little bit of TLC goes a long way in winning their affection. Trained in urban management and planning from the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Dayal started her career researching and drafting reports on urban growth. Her heart lay in hands-on work though, and she started Rocks ‘n’ Roots in 2002 as a way to formalize what she had been doing informally for a long time—designing gardens for the farmhouses of friends. From farmhouses, Dayal started designing landscapes for factories and from then on for commercial spaces such as malls, hotels, and hospitals. Recently, she concluded work on New Delhi airport’s Terminal 3. Rocks ‘n’ Roots designs, executes and maintains landscapes. They are one of the very few companies in India that specializes in landscape maintenance. Dayal’s uniformed team of gardeners and horticulturists has been with her for nearly 15 years. Besides New Delhi airport’s Terminal 3, Rocks ‘n’ Roots has worked on many other prestigious projects. They have created what is, reputedly, the largest green wall in the country—measuring 200 metres by 8 metres—for Hero MotoCorp. For New Delhi-based architectural firm Untitled Design, they have created a vertical garden inside a residence. Their other clients include Nestlé, Hindware, DLF, Tata,Hilton, and many more.Contact: 011-26890126; rocksnrootsdelhi@gmail.com